Wendy’s to close hundreds of U.S. stores to halt falling profit

(CBS, KYMA) - Wendy's plans to close hundreds U.S. restaurants over the next few months in an effort to boost its profit and make its remaining stores more appealing.

The Dublin, Ohio-based chain said, during a conference call with investors Friday, it planned to begin closing restaurants in the fourth quarter of this year.

The company said it expected a "mid-single-digit percentage" of its U.S. stores to be affected, but it didn't give any more details.

Wendy's ended the third quarter with 6,011 U.S. restaurants. If 5% of those locations were impacted, it would mean 300 store closures.

The new round of closures comes on top of the closure of 240 U.S. Wendy's locations in 2024. At the time, Wendy's said that many of the 55-year-old chain's restaurants are simply out of date.

Ken Cook, Wendy's interim CEO, said Friday the company believes closing locations that are underperforming, whether it's from a financial or customer service perspective, will help improve traffic and profitability at its remaining U.S. restaurants.